H E S 



H E S 



in the West Indies, and there often termed 

 Jack-in-a-box Tree. 



The whistling noise which it produces is 

 ascribed by Brown to the cups that sustain and 

 partly envelop the nuts, which being large, as 

 they move in the wind produce the sound. 



Culture. — They are increased by sowing the 

 seeds in a hot-bed in the spring. When the 

 plants are two inches high, they should be 

 transplanted each into a separate pot, filled with 

 fresh rich earth, and plunged into the hot-bed 

 again, observing to water and shade them until 

 they have taken root ; after which air should be 

 admitted by raising the glasses, in proportion to 

 the warmth of the atmosphere, and the heat of 

 the bed, watering them frequently. As they 

 advance they should be removed into larger 

 pots, being careful not to break the roots, and to 

 preserve a good ball of earth to them : when 

 theirleavesdrooptheyshouldbe screened trom the 

 sun until they have taken new root. They should 

 be shifted in July, that they may be well rooted 

 before the cold approaches. They must be kept 

 constantly in the bark-stove; giving them in 

 winter a moderate share of heat, and in sum- 

 mer plenty of air, when the weather is hot. 



They produce a fine effect among other stove 

 plants. 



HESPERIS, a genus containing plants of 

 the hardy herbaceous flowery kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Tetradijnamia 

 Silkjiiosa, and ranks in the natural order of Si- 

 liquosce. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a four- 

 leaved perianthium : leaflets lanceolate-linear, 

 from parallel converging, at top incumbent, at 

 bottom gaping, deciduous : of these two oppo- 

 site ones are gibbous at the base : the corolla is 

 four-petalled, cruciform : petals oblong, the 

 length of the calyx, a little bent back obliquely 

 contrary to the sun's apparent motion, ending 

 in attenuated claws, the length of the calyx : the 

 stamina have six subulate filaments, the length 

 of the tube ; two of them shorter by half than 

 the others ; anthers linear, upright, reflex at the 

 tip : an acuminate honeyed gland between each 

 shorter stamen and the germ, and surrounding 

 the stamen: the pistillum is a germ the length 

 of the calyx, prismatic, four-cornered : style 

 none: stigma two-parted, placed on the inside, 

 oblong, upright, forked at the base, converging 

 at thetip, withering: the pericarpium is a silique, 

 long, pressed flat, sti ft" and straight, two celled, 

 ^two-valved ; the valves of the same length with 

 the partition : the seeds very many, ovate, and 

 compressed. 



The species cultivated are: 1. H. tristis. 

 Night-smelling Rocket, or Dame s Violet; 2. H. 



matronalis, Garden Rocket, or Queen's Gil- 

 liflower; 3. H. inodora, Unsavoury Rocket. 



The first has the leaves much larger than 

 in those of the Garden Rocket, and of a paler 

 green ; the stalks are closely set with bristly 

 hairs : the flowers grow in loose panicles at the 

 top of the stalk, and appear about the same time 

 with those of the second sort. It is a native of 

 Austria, being much cultivated abroad for the 

 great fragrancy of the flowers in the evening. 

 In Germany pots of it are placed in the apart- 

 ments of the ladies ; whence it has the name of 

 Dame's Violet. 



The second species rises with an upright 

 stalk a foot and a half high, with spear-shaped 

 leaves which sit close to the stalk, and are slight- 

 ly indented on their edges, ending in acute 

 points : the flowers are produced Tn a loose 

 thyrse on the top of the stalks : the petals are 

 roundish and indented at the points, of a deep 

 purple colour, and smell very sweet, especially 

 in the evening or in cloudy weather. It flowers 

 in June, and the seeds ripen the latter end of 

 August. It is a native of Italy. 



It varies with single purple flowers, with 

 double flowers of both colours, and with a mixture 

 of both. 



The Siberian variety differs in having a stalk 

 of twice the height : the corolla is purple, not 

 white, and in the claws of the petals being twice 

 as long as the calyx, and the border blunt, and 

 scarcely, if at all, emarginate. 



The third rises with an upright stalk near two 

 feet high : the leaves are dark, green, and sessile : 

 the flowers grow in loose spikes on the top of 

 the stalks ; in some they are white, in others 

 purple, and sometimes both colours striped in 

 the same flower. They have no odour. It re- 

 sembles the second species so much as scarcely 

 to be distinguished from it. 



It varies with double flowers in both co- 

 lours. 



Culture. — They are increased either by seeds, 

 offsets from the roots, or by cuttings of the 

 flower-stalk. 



The seed should be sown in a bed or border of 

 light earth, and either raked in lightly, or co- 

 vered a quarter of an inch deep with light mould 

 in the early spring. When the plant- are come 

 up three or four inches in height, they should be 

 planted out in beds six inches apart, to remain 

 till autumn or the following sp,ing> v.K . they 

 should be removed where they are to flower. 



As most of these seedlings produceSingleflow- 

 ers, and many of these go off after they have 

 flowered, it is proper to raise a fresh supply an- 

 nually. 



The double sorts arc propagated with certainty 

 8 



